Province introduces new measures to cut school-construction times in half
The Ontario government has introduced a series of new measures that it says will cut the time it takes to build new schools almost in half.
It says the measures will create a faster, transparent, accountable and clearer process that prioritizes shovel-ready projects. Currently, average school construction timelines in Ontario are between four and seven years. The province says its capital process has not been meaningfully overhauled in more than 10 years.
"As our government delivers on our promise to Build Ontario, ease the housing crisis and meet the expanding population need, it is vital that students have access to modern schools close to home,” said Education Minister Stephen Lecce. “It is no longer acceptable for schools to take a decade to be built, and that is why we are reforming the way schools are built by working with school boards to speed up the construction through design standardization, reduced approval requirements and increased transparency and accountability to ensure value for taxpayer dollars.”
The strategy overhauls the development, planning and building of schools so projects can be completed faster for the benefit of families in growing communities.
Key reforms include:
- Prioritizing shovel-ready projects and enhanced accountability requirements as school boards provide realistic project costs and timelines.
- Strengthened accountability framework to reduce approval timelines and stronger project oversight with the introduction of project agreements that lay out key milestones and delivery timelines.
- Standardizing designs of new schools to reduce school board planning time and mitigate scheduling delays.
- Increasing collaboration between school boards and municipalities to ensure planning and construction of schools is targeted to ongoing and future growth.
- Reducing red tape with streamlined approval and reporting requirements on new school builds.
- Supporting school boards in working together to operate schools in joint-use facilities between two or more boards within the same building, where appropriate, or as shared-use sites where a school is part of a larger building with multiple users, such as a school within a mixed-use condominium.
- Identifying and disposing of unused surplus school board property at fair market value, first considering local school board pupil accommodation needs and then provincial priorities such as long-term care and affordable housing before being sold by school boards on the open market. School boards will continue to reinvest proceeds of disposition back into their school facilities.
The measures have been incorporated into the province’s current Capital Priorities Program as well as through new regulation that takes effect on December 31.
School boards may submit project proposals to the Ministry of Education through the Capital Priorities Program to address their current or anticipated accommodation needs for funding consideration.
The province has committed to providing about $15 billion over 10 years to support school construction, repair, and renewal. Since 2018, the government has approved or supported the development of nearly 300 school-related projects including child care, and since 2022, 38 new school construction or school addition projects have opened across the province.